ORANG-OUTANG. 
319 
account of him either uninteresting or unnecessary. The causes of 
the defectiveness of these descriptions have been the youth of the 
animals which have arrived in Europe alive, and the short time they 
have survived after reaching the observation of those competent to 
give a history of their habits. A cause of a similar kind will render 
my observations of the one now in England less valuable than they 
would be at a future period, when the animal shall have obtained, 
beyond dispute, his full stature, and the entire developement of his 
intellectual powers. But as a description of his external characters, 
his dimensions, and intellectual manifestations at the present time, 
will serve as a standard of comparison on a future occasion, and 
because his actions on board ship were less restained, and therefore 
more natural, than since his arrival in England, I shall make no further 
apology to my reader for introducing in this place a description which 
may seem to be little connected with the main object of this work. 
For the possession of this rare animal the scientific world is 
indebted to Captain Methuen, who brought him from Banjar- 
massing on the south coast of Borneo, to Java ; and in the hope of 
aiding the cause of science placed him in my possession, for the 
purpose of being conveyed to England. The natives informed 
Captain Methuen that he had been brought from the highlands of 
the interior, and that he was very rare, and difficult to take ; and they 
evidently considered him a great curiosity, as they flocked in crowds 
to see him. 
It may be necessary to acquaint some of my readers that the Orang- 
Outang of Borneo has been confounded by many writers with an 
animal that inhabits Africa, and which has also been called Orang- 
Outang, but is more correctly known by the name of Pongo. The 
Pongo, which has been minutely described by Tyson*, differs ana- 
tomically from the subject of this description, and in having large 
ears and black hair. 
* Anatomy of a Pygmy compared with that of a Monkey, an Ape, and a Man, by 
Edward Tyson, M.D. F.R S. 2nd ed. London, 1751. 
